Andy Murray was made to work for his first round win on Monday, and on Wednesday in round number two, the world number one will target a more serene outing, when the Brit faces Andrey Rublev of Russia.
Djokovic through to second round
Murray had to dig deep to pick up a win over Ilya Marchenko, with the Ukrainian giving the No1 seed a really difficult challenge in the first two sets. Indeed, on quite a few occasions, Murray was outplayed by Marchenko and on another day, the result could very well have been different.
In the end, though, Murray won 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 and the Wimbledon champion will target a much better performance against the Rublev.
Murray put his struggles down to the change in conditions for the opening round match. "I don't think it was the best match, to be honest," Murray said. "The conditions there were pretty different to what we've been practicing.
"Last week's been pretty cool. A lot of days, it's been overcast. The temperature of the court is much cooler. When it's like that, the ball is bouncing a bit lower, a bit easier to control the ball. I was a bit tentative because of that.
"And, yeah, didn't serve that well either. So you end up having to work really hard on a lot of your service games when it's like that. It just was tough."
While his opening round match was played in sweltering heat, the conditions should be a lot cooler for the second round, considering Murray is slated to play the second match of the evening session. Whatever the conditions, though, Murray will know the need for improvement.
Being the world number one, the 29 year old is expected to waltz past his opponents in the first week and a strong showing in this second round match will also send a message to his title rivals that he is here to win his first Australian Open title. To do that, Murray needs to improve his serve and move better on court, two things he struggled with against Marchenko.
Murray will know Rublev, the 19 year old, who topped Yen-Hsun Lu, in the first round, will throw everything at him in this second round match and he needs to be ready for another testing encounter.
"I know a little bit about him," Murray said of his young opponent. "I never hit with him or played against him, but I've seen him play before and he goes for it. He doesn't hold back. He hits a big ball."
When to Watch Live
Murray vs Rublev is the second match of the evening session. The first one -- Garbine Muguruza vs Samantha Crawford is scheduled for a 7pm local time (1.30pm IST, 8am GMT, 3am ET) start.
Live Streaming and TV information:
Australia: TV: Channel 7. Live Streaming: 7 Live.
India: TV: Sony Six and Sony Six HD. Live Streaming: Sonyliv and Yupp TV.
UK: TV: EuroSport. Live Streaming: EuroSport Player.
USA: TV: ESPN 3 and ESPN 2. Live Streaming: Watch ESPN.
